1. Introduction
urWill (Pty) Ltd (“urWill”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) of South Africa.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share your personal information when you use the urWill platform at urwill.co.za. By using our services you agree to the practices described in this policy.
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of personal information:
- Identity information: Full name, South African ID number, date of birth, marital status
- Contact information: Email address, phone number, physical address, province
- Will content: Beneficiary names and ID numbers, executor details, asset descriptions, special instructions
- Spouse / partner information: Name and ID number (where provided for marital estate planning)
- Payment information: Processed by Paystack. We store transaction reference numbers and subscription status but do not store card details.
- Usage data: Pages visited, features used, error logs (via Sentry), device and browser type
- Uploaded documents: Will documents or supporting files you upload for professional services
3. How We Use Your Information
We use your personal information to:
- Create, store, and manage your will documents
- Verify your identity for will validity purposes
- Process payments for subscriptions and professional services
- Send transactional emails (will creation confirmation, service updates, receipts)
- Record a cryptographic hash of your will on our blockchain ledger for immutable verification — your actual will content is never stored on-chain
- Provide professional services (executor nomination, will witnessing)
- Detect and prevent fraud or security breaches
- Comply with legal obligations under the Wills Act 7 of 1953 and POPIA
4. Legal Basis for Processing
- Contractual necessity: Processing required to deliver the services you signed up for
- Legal obligation: Compliance with the Wills Act 7 of 1953, SARS record-keeping requirements, and POPIA
- Legitimate interest: Fraud prevention, platform security, and service improvement
- Consent: Where we ask for your consent (e.g. marketing emails), you may withdraw it at any time
5. Data Sharing
We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We share data only with the following service providers, all of whom are bound by data processing agreements:
- Supabase — database storage and authentication (hosted in the EU with encryption at rest)
- Paystack — payment processing (PCI-DSS compliant; governed by their own privacy policy)
- Resend — transactional email delivery
- Sentry — application error monitoring (error logs may include limited usage context; no will content is included)
We may also disclose information where required by law, court order, or regulatory authority.
6. Data Retention
- Active accounts: Personal information and will data are retained for the duration of your account
- Deleted accounts: Financial records are retained for 7 years as required by SARS; all other personal data is deleted within 30 days of account closure
- Blockchain records: The cryptographic hash of your will is permanently recorded on our ledger for verification integrity — this hash cannot be used to reconstruct will content
7. Your Rights under POPIA
You have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
- Delete your personal information (subject to legal retention requirements)
- Object to the processing of your information for direct marketing
- Data portability — request a copy of your data in a portable format
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@urwill.co.za. We will respond within 30 days.
8. Security
We protect your information through:
- Encryption at rest for all database records
- Row-Level Security (RLS) ensuring users can only access their own data
- Private storage buckets for uploaded will documents (accessible only via signed, time-limited URLs)
- HTTPS enforcement across all connections
- Blockchain immutability for will hash verification records
- Rate limiting on authentication endpoints
Despite our measures, no system is completely secure. If you suspect a security incident, please notify us immediately at support@urwill.co.za.
9. Cookies
We use essential cookies only. These are required for authentication and to keep you logged in during your session. We do not use advertising, analytics, or tracking cookies. You can decline non-essential cookies via the cookie banner without affecting your ability to use the platform.
10. Children
urWill is not intended for persons under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a minor has provided us with information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will notify you by email (to the address on your account) and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
12. Contact Us
For any privacy-related queries, requests, or complaints, contact our Information Officer:
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to the Information Regulator of South Africa.